The reality of the 3G iPhone – not as amazing as Apple wants us to think.

When I first heard about the 3G version of Apple’s iPhone I started drooling. When I first saw the TV adverts and initial reports from bloggers I started wanting. Despite all this drooling and wanting, however, I have so far resisted the temptation to ditch my Windows Mobile based HTC TyTn II (or Kaiser as it’s sometimes called) in favour of Apple’s device for once simple reason – it looked too good to be true.

The more I read about the iPhone, the more I am coming to the conclusion that it isn’t anywhere near as wonderful as Apple and their followers would have us think. An example – this morning I saw a video on youtube made by someone in Boston who was comparing the performance of his 3G iPhone with the ‘Unslow’ advert recently released by Apple and the real thing was somewhat lacking to say the least. It looked much closer to what I experience every day on my 3G Windows Mobile phone.

I have been down this road before. Late last year I was lusting after my current phone, the aforementioned TyTn II, and gobbled up every tidbit of information I could find with gusto. It looked like it had everything I wanted in a mobile device and more besides – a worthy succesor to my aging Dell Axim x51v. By the time it was released by T-Mobile in the UK (renamed as the MDA Vario 3) I just couldn’t wait any longer and ordered mine on the very day of release. For a short while I was in love with it but it didn’t take long for it’s many shortcomings to show through and I often find myself wishing that I hadn’t jumped on the bandwagon so quickly. I miss my Dell :(

This isn’t the only issue I have with the iPhone of course but I’ll save those for another time. It’s an interesting product and I’ll continue watching with interest but, for now at least, I won’t be parting with my cash.

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The value of the iPhone is not in as much in the phone. It is not so bad actually.
It is in the nutjob enthusiasts. They are already churning an amazing amout of applications from ToDo lists to silly games to useful apps. You can’t pay for that. Much like linux, a great product and you can get it for nothing.

Apple can remove any application from your iPhone over the air! So, in principle you can download (and maybe pay for) an application, come to rely on it and then suddenly, poof…it’s gone from your phone because Apple didn’t like it. Of course they will only use this power in an emergency, when it’s for the greater good….yadda yadda but that’s a lot of power to place in the hands of one company. Certainly an issue you tend not to have with Linux!

I also wonder if the protocol could be hacked. What if [insert bad guy here] were to figure out how to throw the kill switch?

I was going to save it for another post but since you have brought up applications I may as well talk about it now.

For me, the sticking point is simply the high cost of the monthly cell phone plans, pure and simple. I’m just not interested in spending $1200 a year just to be able to use the device on a cell phone network. Get that monthly plan down to $60 for a family plan and I’m in.

What is even funnier are the “first adopters” who shelled out a fortune for the first generation Iphone and are now not happy bunnies. SHOCK HORROR- new gadgets cost a fortune then fall in price! GTFO!

The interesting question is what will Apple do next?- they have upgraded their phones, their new nano is probably their best seller (last thing they updated) – I have one and I do like it for journeys.

P.s. there is a lot of chatter about the number of applications you can download to work out the correct tip for a meal. As one commentor quoted a seinfeld line “That’s fantastic–a $2000 tip calculator.”